The influence of the Venetians in Italy is indeed strong. Every day, new intelligence comes from the Apennine Peninsula in Italy. A lot of information was sent by businessmen from all over Italy.
In Italy, Venice is the largest country of merchants. Even in other city-states, many merchants have to get goods from Venetian merchants. Therefore, apart from those who are close to Venice’s rival Genoa (is this also harmonious?), most Italian businessmen have contacts with Venice and are willing to provide information for Venice.
Every morning, as a phalanx leader, Marin is barely qualified to go to the coach's tent to listen to intelligence. Intelligence from the French came every day.
As Marin remembered, the French marched slowly. The strange thing is that June has already entered early summer. According to the characteristics of the Mediterranean climate in Italy, summer should be dry and hot. However, these days, it is raining in Italy, and it seems that it has entered the rainy season.
When it rains, the road becomes muddy. Therefore, whether it is the French army or the anti-French coalition forces, the marching speed has been affected.
The Apennine Peninsula is only 1,000 kilometers long, and the city of Naples is not at the southernmost tip of the peninsula. It is only six to seven hundred kilometers away from the northernmost tip of the peninsula.
If Marin's "Black Cross Phalanx" marches at a speed of 50 kilometers per day, the French army can cover this distance in at most ten days.
However, the French army retreated all the way north, while taking care of robbing the Italian farms along the way, and by the way, looking for those Italian peasant women to rob them...
Therefore, the marching speed of the French army is not fast. It can be expected that they will indeed arrive near Parma in early July as they did in history.
Marin was relieved to see that the French did not march northward instead because of their crossing. Then, he paid more attention to participating in the interception of the French army.
Although it is said that even if the French army is eliminated this time, it will not have much impact on France's national strength. However, if the French army is defeated in this battle, it can greatly damage the morale of the French.
You must know that in war, especially in the era when cold weapons dominated, morale is very important for combat. An army with high morale can completely suppress an army with more people than itself but with low morale. On the contrary, morale is low, and no matter how many people there are, it is dangerous.
In the original history, although Charles VIII did not take much advantage in the Battle of Fornovo, this battle proved that even if the French army was halfway in a hasty retreat northward, it could still beat Italians to the point where they could not take care of themselves (this The casualty ratio of the French and Italian coalition forces during the battle was 1:2). Therefore, the French are naturally extremely confident, and have invaded Italy many times since then.
Of course, all the above are false. What Marin really wanted was to make a name for himself by severely injuring the French army. Then, rely on military exploits to exchange a higher title with the emperor.
After all, the title of knight is too low and cannot be hereditary. Every generation needs to be re-canonized by the lord. The baron above the knight is hereditary, so there is no need to go to the canonization every generation.
However, what makes Marin depressed is that the 11,000 people sent by the Shinra Empire and the 4,000 small Italian army attached to Shinra, under the leadership of Earl Alfred, who is not motivated, are actually behind Italy. There are many coalition forces. According to Earl Alfred, he was waiting for the emperor to come and lead the group.
But Marin had known for a long time that the emperor would not come back in a short time. You know, the current situation of the emperor is very bad. In the Holy Roman Empire, only the nobles of the Swabian League and the Duke of Saxony supported him, while the princes of other powerful factions and their younger brothers worked desperately to block the Habsburg family and prevent the Habsburg Clans are too powerful, thereby weakening and depriving them of their right to self-government.
At present, the dukes and earls of the Shenluo Empire are basically equivalent to the emperors in their own territories, and they say what they say. But if the Habsburg family becomes stronger, they will definitely not be happy to take back some of their rights. You know, there are precedents for this. It was similar to Shinra in the past, and it was a system of enfeoffment with decentralized rights. However, through the efforts of previous generations of French kings, France has gradually embarked on the road of centralization. Maximilian I, on the other hand, was very envious of the authority of the French king, and had had intentions in this regard. And this made the princes in the Shenluo Empire very worried, they were not happy to be deprived of their authority. Therefore, they tried their best to trip Maximilian I and prevent the Habsburg family from being too powerful.
Maximilian I prepared to oppose the French occupation of Italy very early on, but the dukes in Shinra turned a blind eye to the French invasion of Italy. After all, it was not the Shenluo Empire that was invaded. Of course, some Italian states also belonged to the Shenluo Empire in the past. But later, Shinra focused on the affairs of the German region, and reached an agreement with the Pope, and has long been out of touch with the affairs of the Italian region. For the threat of the French, the duke and earls were more worried about the threat of the Habsburg family. Therefore, it was too difficult for Maximilian I to ask them for help.
If the emperor didn't come, Earl Alfred seemed unwilling to move. After all, the Earl also knew in his heart that in terms of talent, he couldn't do it. But in terms of loyalty, Earl Alfred has nothing to say. Therefore, the Earl honestly led the army to lag behind the main force of the coalition forces, waiting for the emperor to lead them.
However, the Earl could wait, but Marin couldn't afford it. He also hoped that this battle would be a success. If you can't even participate in the battle, then this trip to Italy is in vain. Therefore, he must find a way to participate in that battle...
However, it is not realistic to persuade Earl Alfred to lead the army to Parma to join the coalition forces. The count himself didn't like Italians, and wanted to wait loyally for the return of the emperor. No matter how urged by the Marquis of Mandova and others, he just refused to continue going south.
In fact, both the Marquis of Mandoba and the Venetians hope that Shinra's army can fight the French army together. Because, the Italians themselves know that the German army is more powerful than the Italian army. Therefore, they repeatedly invited the earl to lead troops south.
However, the Italian is not the coach of the coalition forces, and Earl Alfred actually looked down on the Italian in his heart. Therefore, the Shinra army is still relatively far away from the Italian coalition forces.
After thinking about it, Marin decided to take the initiative to ask for a battle to "aid" the Italian coalition forces. However, how to tell the earl is a big problem.
After many inquiries, Marin learned that Earl Alfred had no ambitions and was not very feminine. However, when it comes to money, there are some preferences.
In desperation, Marin decided to put aside his principles for the time being and do a few evil deeds of robbery, so as to collect enough money to bribe the Earl. According to the earl's servant who was bought off, it is estimated that if he wants to buy the earl, it will cost more than 1,000 ducats (Venice gold coins).
In order to make enough money, Marin selected a group of subordinates in the army who were obedient to him. About 100 people, led by Sauer, were all covered in black cloth. They took advantage of the night to do a few votes on the border of Venice where they were stationed. Great robbery. Soon, Marin received 1,000 gold coins and 5,000 silver coins.
Marin gave 1,000 Ducat gold coins to Earl Alfred, and offered to go south to support the Italian coalition forces. Earl Alfred was greedy for money, and he was tirelessly troubled by the Italians' "request for help", so it would be good to send a phalanx to "reinforce". Therefore, the earl agreed to Marin's request and issued a document requesting Marin to lead the "Black Cross Phalanx" to the south to reinforce the Italians and accept the dispatch of the Marquis of Mandova.
At this time, it was already June 20, and the time before the outbreak of the Battle of Fornovo was very short. After Marin received the transfer order, he immediately moved his army south.
However, Marin did not intend to go to the Italian coalition forces, but wanted to act alone. Therefore, his march was also concealed, instead of taking the Roman road, he took a relatively remote road. And these roads have been explored by Sauer before.
Marin believed that if he rushed to the Italian coalition with the documents, there would be no good fruit to eat. Because, the group of Italians who are greedy for life and fear of death may arrange their own phalanx to act as cannon fodder and go shopping with the French on the front line.
Moreover, once he accepts the leadership of the Marquis of Mandova, he can't help himself. Because, once it is under the command of the Marquis of Mandova, it cannot act without authorization. Otherwise, it is a violation of military regulations and sending troops without authorization. If it is serious, it will be executed, and if it is less serious, it will be maimed by military sticks.
However, he was "ordered to help" the Italians, but before his phalanx reached the Italian camp, he was free. Because, I am the commander of this phalanx. The only trouble was the three "sands" mixed by the emperor and Earl Hohenzollern in the phalanx. They may be dissatisfied with their disobedience, and even tell their secrets afterwards.
But Marin didn't care about their whistleblowing anymore, because even if the three whistleblowers, they would have to wait until after the war. In the army, they can be dissatisfied, but they dare not disobey orders. Otherwise, Marin has every right to do them. Even if you can't kill them, you can temporarily imprison them. Moreover, the three of them didn't have a good grasp of their own company. Because Marin also mixed his own "sand" in their company.
Three knights were sent to be the captains of the company, all with their own entourage. Of the 10 teams under their command, 5 of them were naturally served by their own attendants. The remaining five were all assigned by Marin. The knight's attendants naturally followed the knight closely, but the small captains assigned by Marin would also follow Marin closely. Usually, when he was free, Marin openly invited the captains who were mixed into the company of the other three knights to drink and eat meat. There was nothing the three knights could do about it. Because, Marin invited in the name of "inviting old brothers to get together", can you stop it? Moreover, Marin is willing to let them control half of the soldiers under his command, which is already a face for the emperor and the earl...